{
  "id": "R43299",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R43299",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 425501,
      "date": "2013-11-04",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T23:14:22.689905",
      "title": "Georgia\u2019s October 2013 Presidential Election: Outcome and Implications",
      "summary": "This report discusses Georgia\u2019s October 27, 2013, presidential election and its implications for U.S. interests. The election took place one year after a legislative election that witnessed the mostly peaceful shift of legislative and ministerial power from the ruling party, the United National Movement (UNM), to the Georgia Dream (GD) coalition bloc. The newly elected president, Giorgi Margvelashvili of the GD, will have fewer powers under recently approved constitutional changes. \nMost observers have viewed the 2013 presidential election as marking Georgia\u2019s further progress in democratization, including a peaceful shift of presidential power from UNM head Mikheil Saakashvili to GD official Margvelashvili. Some analysts, however, have raised concerns over ongoing tensions between the UNM and GD, as well as Prime Minister and GD head Bidzini Ivanishvili\u2019s announcement on November 2, 2013, that he will step down as the premier. \nIn his victory speech on October 28, Margvelashvili reaffirmed Georgia\u2019s Euro-Atlantic foreign policy orientation, including the pursuit of Georgia\u2019s future membership in NATO and the EU. At the same time, he reiterated that GD would continue to pursue the normalization of ties with Russia. \nOn October 28, 2013, the U.S. State Department praised the Georgian presidential election as generally democratic and expressing the will of the people, and as demonstrating Georgia\u2019s continuing commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration. The State Department called for all Georgian political forces to work together to ensure Georgia\u2019s political stability and stated that the United States looked forward to building upon the strong bilateral strategic partnership and Georgia\u2019s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.\nSuccessive U.S. Congresses have endorsed close U.S.-Georgia ties and have supported Georgia\u2019s continued sovereignty and independence. Congressional engagement has included humanitarian and other assistance to address economic problems in the 1990s and remediation support in the aftermath of the August 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict. Through appropriations, hearings, and other legislation and oversight, Congress has strongly supported the goals of the 2009 U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, which pledges boosted U.S. defense and security, trade, energy, and democratization cooperation with Georgia. Among U.S. interests, NATO and the United States have received significant troop support from Georgia for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Georgia serves as a land, sea, and air route for the transit of personnel and cargoes to and from Afghanistan along the \u201cNorthern Distribution Network.\u201d Georgia\u2019s strategic location astride east-west and north-south trade and transit routes also is exemplified by its role as part of the \u201cSouthern Corridor\u201d for gas and oil pipelines from the Caspian region to European and other international markets.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43299",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Constitutional Questions",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}